Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC), one of industry’s leading accounting and business consultancy firm, in its latest report titled “Mobile Broadband Outlook 2015” has said that the number of 3G subscribers in India is projected to cross 107 million-mark by 2015. Looking at the recently concluded 3G spectrum and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) auction, which resulted in a more-than-estimated revenue inflow of Rs. 1.06 trillion for the Government, this projection might well turn out to be true. What is interesting is that PWC has estimated the rural subscribers to comprise 24 per cent of the overall 3G subscriber base by 2015. This mobile broadband penetration will be driven by the introduction of innovative technologies, decreasing price of 3G/High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) enabled handsets and enhanced user experience. Maintaining a positive outlook towards the mobile services sector, the report says that the mobile subscriber base is projected to cross 1 billion in 2014, thanks to high additions, mostly in rural areas. The report thus presents a very promising picture for the Mobile broadband growth.
This growth is vital for social and economic development of our country in a number of ways:
- India is expected to add 136 million people to its workforce in next 10 years. With such a whopping increment, primary access to information and data becomes indispensable for reaping maximum benefits.
- Our Government has been actively pursuing the inclusive agenda for the growth of rural areas. All these rural development schemes will definitely get a boost from increased broadband access. But the broadband penetration in rural areas is still quite low, owing to non-scalable wire line infrastructure. Thus, mobile broadband can play a role in integrating rural India with rest of the country and help widen markets by creating better information flows. The financial-inclusion plans undertaken by the Government can leverage the platform to reach out to a large base of unbanked customers across India.
- Mobile broadband can act as a catalyst in various sectors including Telecom, financial services, Media & Entertainment by giving them opportunities to expand the service offerings.
Mobile broadband has the potential to deliver the Broadband power which we have long aspired for. It can thus act as a key differentiator in our quest for being an Economic Superpower. However, what we do not want is for it to get mired in excessive policy changes and regulatory frameworks. That would really be unfortunate.
Do you think that Mobile Broadband should be recognized as a key component in our National Broadband Strategy?
The dream of becoming an economic superpower is some kind of a lie which has been fed to the Indian mindset. The newspaper media and our dreamy mythological past is to be blamed for it.
We currently don’t even have basics in place for 60% of our population. How can we then dream of being any kind of superpower.
If we stop propagating such thoughts through several media formats, this fantasizing will automatically stop and we might be able to get things done.
Hi Achala,
Much appreciate if you could mention the methodology of this study and also on what basis these projections are made. Because, the figure of 107 million 3G subscriptions by 2015 seems to be too promising.
Regards.
M. Krishna Kumar
Dear Achalla, It is definitely exciting to note that the technology out breaks are fast catching up in India. Your comments on 3G is promising. We will have thousand reasons to mourn on what we are, but have few real good reasons to be excited about what we are. The point is to add on useful Indian specific tools that can change the quality of life of our people with the help of technology. One such is http://www.mylory.com, connecting trucks, goods,agents, spare parts and service stations all India. I have been working on it from 2005 onwards. Yes the road is bad, but India is the future. I am looking out for 3G to take it to all those who are struggling in the surface transport industry in India. Thanks for the encouraging statistics.